The Atlanta Braves dropped their first game of the spring Sunday falling 5-1 to the Detroit Tigers.
Bryse Wilson is one of Atlanta’s young pitchers who are competing for one of the final spots in the team’s rotation. He got the start on Sunday and ran into a little trouble in the first inning. Wilson got Victor Reyes to ground out to open the game but then surrendered three straight singles to Kody Clemens, Harold Castro and Frank Schwindel. Jordy Mercer followed another solid hit to center that scored two to give the Tigers an early lead. Wilson was able to escape further damage as he got Dawel Lugo to ground into a double play to end the inning.
Wilson set the Tigers down in order in the second and would exit after the second having allowed four hits and two runs.
Josh Tomlin took over in the third and allowed a lead off triple to Reyes who would later score on a groundout by Clemens to extend the lead to 3-0. Tomlin would retire the next five batters he faced in order.
Atlanta would scratch across their only run in the third as Shane Robinson scored on a sacrifice fly by Freddie Freeman.
The Braves were treated to the full Kyle Muller experience in the sixth. Muller allowed a lead off single to Kerry Carpenter and then hit Billy Lescher and Andrew Lipcius to load the bases with no one out. He then struck out Ulrich Bojarski and Eric Haase before walking Brady Policelli to force in a run. Muller showed the big time fastball that makes him such an intriguing prospect but struggled with his command.
Patrick Weigel looked sharp in a scoreless appearance striking out Carpenter to end the seventh. Huascar Ynoa struck out two while pitching around a single and hit batter in the eighth. Jasseel De La Cruz allowed a run on two hits in the ninth while striking out two.
Atlanta finished with just four hits on the afternoon. Austin Riley saw his first action of the spring going 0-for-2 at the plate but had a couple of nice plays at third base. Drew Waters lined out to shortstop and reached on an error in two at-bats. Braden Shewmake, Bryce Ball and Greyson Jenista all went hitless in their spring debuts.
The Braves came up short on the scoreboard but there were some good pitching performances on the day and it really shows that there is still some quality depth in their minor league system. Max Fried will make his spring debut on Monday when they travel to Dunedin to take on the Blue Jays. Mike Foltynewicz is scheduled to make his first start of the spring on Tuesday against the Twins.